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Monday, August 31, 2015

Recently, while on my mission in Chicago, Von and &
visited the Swedish Museum of Chicago.There
I found many interesting things about Swedes that I want to pass on to you
along with pictures. Although Grandpa Carl Oscar and Grandma Gerda Theresia
Hansen did not immigrate to Chicago, much of the information would apply to the
circumstances of their immigration.

More than 1 million Swedes left their homeland between 1850
and 1930.In the 19th century
Sweden, a growing population and several years of crop failures left many
people without food and livelihood.In
addition, social and political discontent, the desire for religious freedom,
(our ancestors) and the wish to escape compulsory military service pushed
Swedes from their homeland.Economic
opportunity – in both industry and agriculture – was the largest draw for
Swedes to North America and especially to Chicago

As this happened, Chicago was transformed into the Swedish
capital of North America.In 1880, when
Chicago was 43 years old, 13,000 residents out of 500,000 in Chicago were
Swedish.By 1890, Swedes were the third
largest ethnic group in the city of Chicago behind only the Irish and the
Germans.By 1900, Chicago had the second
largest concentration of Swedes in the world, second only to Stockholm in
Sweden.

Of interest is after the great Chicago fire in 1871, most
Swedes moved outside the city, which is now in the suburbs.The reason:they wanted wooden log houses, and Chicago no longer allowed wooden
houses in the city, because of the fire.

Carl emigrated in 1891, before Ellis Island was in the
picture.He probably would have entered
America through the Castle Garden Immigration facility.In 1892 Ellis Island opened its doors to
immigrants from all over the world.Gerda arrived in American in 1900 through Ellis Island.It is estimated that almost 20 million people
came through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1920.Single women made up one-third of the people
who emigrated from Sweden to America between 1890 and 1910. Most of those women
became domestic help.Gerda fits in this
statistic.

Friday, January 9, 2015

This photo was sent by Bart and Jeanette Little. CJ Lundquist, first cousin of Gerda Hanson Johnson appears in the middle. His wife Betsey is on the right at the bottom. Behind his head is Signe Lundquist who worked in Iowa as a nurse and married a local Iowa farmer named Gerald Little and had 4 sons. Sadly, Gerald Little died during the influenza pandemic in 1935 when all his sons were quite young. Then a decade later in 1947, Signe Lundquist Little was killed in a tragic car accident. Bart Little, named above, never knew his Little grandparents, but his father grew up very involved in the close-knit Lundquist family as did Bart.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Distant relatives of Gerda Hanson

who live in the United States

have been
FOUND !!!!!!!!!

From Carolyn:For many years, I have tried to find distant
relatives of Carl and Gerda who live in the United States.Recently, with help from Sharon Nuttal,
granddaughter of Aunt Gerda, I was in contact with Jeanette R. Little from
Aiken, South Carolina.She sent me the
following information and gave me permission to post this on the blog.

"Its very nice to hear from you. I
am quite confident that my husband, Bart Little is distantly related
to you.

He is a descendant of Hedda Lena Hansdotter,
who had a brother, Carl Johan Hanson...who by our records is the father of
Gerda Hanson.

We don't have any specific information about
Gerda or her family line on down, but we have done a deep dive into the Swedish
records about Hedda Lena Hansdotter and her brother, and we are working our way
back through the old church records.

As you can see from the dates, the two
youngest children did not survive to adulthood, and the mother, Anna Stina died
around the same timeframe as the youngest two children.

For many years, the family lived on a farm
named Käggla, we strongly suspect they rented the farm rather than being
landowners.

As a widower, Hans Persson kept his children
with him until they were adults, his daughters Anna Lotta and Hedda Lena moved
to nearby farms to work after age 17. He continued to live with his
son, Carl Johan until his death when Carl Johan Hansson was 18 or 19 years old.

The three children took different paths once
their parents had passed away....the oldest child, Anna Lotta had three
children, but didn't marry until she was over 40 years old. I don't have
a great deal of information about her three children, she had a son Karl, and
two daughters Anna and Hulda. The records seem to indicate that one of
the daughters, Anna immigrated to Canada in 1892...but we are missing
significant pieces to that story.

The middle child, Hedda Lena, married Nils
Martin Magnusson in 1864 at age 21 and they lived in the same area as her
father until 1882 when the whole family immigrated to a Swedish
settlement in Stanton Iowa. They had four children, three of whom were
born in Sweden: Carl Johan, Anna, Sven, and Gus. The entire family
changed their surname to Lundquist when they immigrated to the United
States. Hedda and Nils Lundquist are buried in Stanton, Iowa, but the
grave is unmarked. Their oldest son Carl Johan Lundquist married a
Swedish immigrant and had 10 children. Anna married and had one daughter
before her passing as a young adult. Sven did not survive to adulthood,
and Gus had 4 children.

The youngest child, Carl Johnan Hansson,
married twice. His first wife was Carolina Carlotta Andersdotter, and we
suspect his second wife was her sister, Wilhemina Andersdotter. Our
records show they had three children, Anna - who died as a infant, Gerda and a
son, Carl Allen. The family moved to the Stockholm area in the 1890s -
and that's where the access to the church records ends for us. We suspect
that Carl Allen remained in Sweden as he appears in a Swedish death index, but
it doesn't tell us when he died or if he ever married."

Friday, July 20, 2012

My brother, Dale Johnson, recently visited Sweden where he took pictures in the places that Carl Oscar Johnson was born and christened, and where Gerda Theresia Hanson Johnson was born and christened, and where she lived. According to Dale, the country is beautiful, with rolling hills, farms and forests, many islands and small villages and a few large cities. You will find other pictures of these places elsewhere on the blog submitted by Dennis Bingham.

I have been fortunate enough to be given pictures of WILFORD OSCAR JOHNSON, Carl's oldest son. You will find these pictures under his name, and after the Sweden Pictures.

WILFORD OSCAR JOHNSON
Recently I was contact by nephew of Wilford Johnson and given some information, including a contacvt with Wilford;s Granddaughter, Sharen. Sharen sent me the following pictures for which I am grateful. These are the first pictures of Wilford I have seen except as a child in some early photos. I have written further in other places on this blog about Wilford and Ebba, the first two children of Carl Oscar Johnson. I have tried to find more about their mother, Emma, but have been unsuccessful so far. Thanks to John Carey and Sharen Bond leading me to these pictures.